A Different Kind of Forest
by NotTheMilk
Summary: MK and her dad are taking a month long trip back to the city, and have invited Nod to come along. He convinces the new queen to let him go, and make him big for the trip. What happens when he hits the city streets and realizes how different Stomper life is from the Leafmen's way of life? (Light MK/Nod, Forest Dad's as a brotp only, flashback Taranin)
1. The Queen and her Stomper

**So I should be updating my other fic but I'm drowning in Epic feels so due to conspiring this happened. Notes: This takes place after the movie, so yes, spoilers may happen. Also, since the little marigold queen has no name, I've named her Hanako for the sake of this. **

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Nod approached his queen, the young marigold girl that now carried the life of the forest, removed his helmet, and bowed low. The girl, whom he'd learned was named Hanako, started giggling at him. He knew she found it hilarious whenever one of the Leafmen bowed or kneeled around her, which was why he continued to do it even after she had insisted he didn't need to. He looked up at her smiling before standing, "Mila-" "Hanako!" The little queen insisted, half pouting, half smiling, "What is it, Nod?" She motioned her hands and a vine stretched over to them for them to sit on.

"It's um… Gee… I don't know how to ask this…" Nod pushed his hair back from his face, feeling incredibly embarrassed, "It's about MK…"

"I thought as much." The queen stuck her tongue out at him in a very unlady-like manner, giggling again. "Did she threaten to step on you again?"

He laughed, loosening up a little, "No, nothing like that. It was her dad that threatened that." He winked at Hanako to let her know he was joking, "It's just that… Well, I was hoping I could have some time off to spend with her and her dad. They asked if I wanted to go see the city with them, so they could show me their world. They are going to be away for an entire month, and thought that I might be able to learn more about stompers, and be able to bring that knowledge back with me. At least, that's what Bomba keeps saying…" He trailed off awkwardly, wondering how to ask the next part.

"You want me to give you time off _and _make you big, don't you?" She grinned at him, not needing him to speak after all. "If I do that, Ronin's going to get all scary faced and lecture me again." She said, putting her hands on her hips. "But… If you promise to bring me back something cool, I might be able to put up with another lecture. Do you really think you'll be all right living alone with stompers for an entire month?" Hanako cocked her head to the side, studying her friend a little better.

"I think I can manage it. I hope. I mean, it seemed like a pretty big deal for MK, after all." He shrugged. "And they'll be setting up something that will allow you guys to communicate with us in case of an emergency, somehow, even though we'll be a lot farther away."

"All right. Well, let's get this over with before anyone catches us." She said brightly, grabbing his hand and pulling him along till they were nearer to the outskirts of Moonhaven. She put her hands to her temples and looked at him questioningly, "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the magic that was to follow.

With an intense look of concentration, wind started blowing around him, dragging him backwards until he disappeared. With a satisfied nod, she turned and started hopping back to the center of Moonhaven, not wanting any of her other guards to find her so close to the edge.

Nod had been blown away, but when he crashed into the ground everything seemed different. With a groan he picked himself off the ground gingerly, feeling like his limbs were way too heavy. "MK likes feeling like this?" He asked himself in confusion as he glanced around to get his bearings. The forest seemed incredibly different from up here, but at least he didn't have to worry about a Boggan attack like this. With a grin at that thought, he took off down the trail towards the stomper house. Once there he banged on the door, shouting cheerfully, "MK, MK! I did it! Open up! Aaaah, how do you work this thing?" He stared at the knob that stuck out from the door and put his hand on it, trying to pull to open the door. "MK? Bomba? Come on, let me in!"

Moments later a breathless MK opened the door, squeaking in surprise before throwing herself at him for a hug. "She did it!" She laughed as he spun her around excitedly, "She made you norm- well, our size." She extracted herself from his arms and looked him over, amused, "Although we'll have to find you something other than armor to wear." She added with a smile, "Not that the armor doesn't look good, it'd just really stand out. We don't go to the actual city for a couple of days, at least, so we have time to get you some real clothes and let you get used to being like this."

The sound of growling at their feet attracted their attention as Ozzie started sniffing Nod's feet, "Ozzie, really? You know Nod!" MK reprimanded the dog with a laugh, "Anyways, dad will be happy to know you're here. I'm surprised Mub didn't try to stop you from coming, actually."

"Ah, actually, Mub doesn't know. Queen Hanako is the only one who does, and hopefully we can make it to the city before anyone capable of causing me trouble realizes I'm gone." Nod winked at the girl, "And can you imagine if Mub managed to convince her to make him big too? There would be no saving either of us. He'd probably try to take over the forest, too." He started wandering around the room, poking at everything of interest, and feeling pretty excited as he discovered the light switch, flicking it up and down, "You stompers make the weirdest things. How does this even work?"

With a shake of her head, MK grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the switch and into the other room, where her dad was frantically typing notes into a computer. "Dad, look who I found." She said, wondering if he was too far gone into his own world to hear her. "Wow! How did you put scrolls inside this?" Nod asked as he ran forward and stuck his head close to the screen.

"Oh great, now I've lost them both. Dorks." She said quietly, smiling at their backs as Bomba started teaching Nod about computers.

"At least they get along." She heard an annoyed sounding voice say near her ear, making her turn her head. A few months ago and she might have screamed, but she was getting used to such things now. She held out her hand, allowing Ronin to jump onto it. He'd probably had to speak very slowly for her to have been able to understand his words so well, but talking like that was inconvenient for both of them. With a sigh she walked into the other room, let him jump onto the table, and pulled on her helmet. "I see that didn't last long." She shook her head at him ruefully.

The man shrugged, eyes narrowing as he stared through the open door into the other room where Nod was still oblivious, "He's not exactly good at hiding things. He didn't tell me his plans, but I am his commanding officer. I know when something's up."

She chuckled lightly, arguing in Nod's defense, "Come on, a little break isn't a bad thing. And think about it. Anything he learns might help you guys better learn how to deal with other stompers, right?"

He crossed his arms and looked up at her, his chin jutting slightly to the side, "Maybe. I can't order him back since the queen gave him off, but have you ever wondered how well he'll handle stomper life? I mean…" He looked pointedly back to the boy and him and Bomba stumbled into the room together, Bomba's phone in Nod's hands. He was moving his fingers over it and laughing excitedly, "MK! Look! I can make the pictures get bigger and smaller!"

"I… I'm sure he'll adapt quickly. I mean, he is a Leafman, right? Didn't you train him to learn how to deal with things or something?" She laughed nervously, resisting the urge to facepalm. "How bad could it possibly be? We'll bring him back in a month, safe and sound, I promise!"

The bug sized man looked unconvinced, "Whatever. Tell him I hope he has fun or something." He said over his shoulder as he turned towards the window, "I expect him to report back for duty the minute he returns." With that he jumped away, leaving her alone to stare at the antics of her dad, her friend, and Ozzie, who had now joined in the shenanigans. "Ah, I'll do that. Goodbye, Ronin."


	2. A Stick in the Mub

**Wow! Ah, somehow that little first chapter got a lot more attention than I'm used to and I don't even know what to do with that. Just, wow guys. Thank you! I will let you in on something - there will be lovely Tara/Ronin flashbacks at some point, since that's my hardcore OTP. So if you're craving some of that just know it will happen eventually. Again, thanks for following!**

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The next two days went relatively well, with Nod calming down about the things he saw around the house. Bomba had made a trip out to a thrift store and picked up some clothes he thought might fit Nod, so that he wouldn't stand out so badly. They were getting ready to leave when Mub gave them a call, asking why he hadn't seen them in a few days.

"Seriously, do you know how long it takes me to crawl up here? MK, baby, you should come and see me today. Nod seems to have disappeared so it could be just you and me." The slug wiggled his eyes seductively at the girl. "Sound good?"

"That's a terrible idea." Nod said, walking into the room and leering at the computer screen, "Why would she want to go hang out with a tiny little slug when I'm here?" He was wearing a slightly oversized shirt with a band on the front of it, and a pair of pants that miraculously fit. He had no idea what the band even was about, but they were some of the clothes that Bomba had picked up for him, since MK had refused to let him out of the house in his armor.

"Wha- Nod? How did you… You jerk!" Mub sputtered at the camera, obviously outraged. "I am going to get you for this! Fall asleep, I dare you! I'll crawl up your nose! You'll never get the slime out."

"Mub, Mub! Calm down." MK held her hands up to attempt to pacify the angry slug, "Dad and I are going back to the city for a month, and Nod is coming with us."

"Wait, you're leaving me for a whole month?" Mub looked heartbroken for a minute, then thought about something even more important, "And yet you're taking him? MK, how could you? I thought we had something special!"

MK grimaced slightly, but recovered quickly, "We, ah, do! But really Mub, you wouldn't like it in the city. You would get stepped on or something horrible like that. Or eaten by a dog."

Nod's eyes lit up at that thought, but he wisely kept his mouth shut for a change. "If the queen can make that loser big, she can do the same for me!" The slug argued, shaking what passed for a fist at the Jinn.

"Whoa there, Mub. We don't even know if that kind of magic would work on you, and do you really think that the stompers would take a giant slug well? They'd probably pour salt on you. And how would we get you into a… What are those things called, again?" Nod glanced at MK, trying to remember what she called the large wheeled things they rode around in.

She sighed, shaking her head at them both, "It's a car."

"Oh yeah. How would we get you into a car? Just not doable, buddy. But you can still call us. I'll make sure to take good care of MK for you while you're gone." Nod chuckled a bit more evilly than he might have intended, but how could he resist the urge to mess with the slug.

"Anyways, we were on our way out, sorry Mub!" MK stated, reaching forward to turn off the camera, "We'll leave you a message when we get to the city, all right?" The slug grumbled a bit, but he was unable to argue with MK, so he settled for glaring at Nod, "If I find out you've touched one hair on her head I'm gonna-" Nod reached out and poked his friends head, touching her hair with a grin. "Oops, you were saying?" With another sigh, she turned the camera off, cutting off sounds of rage from Mub, and stared unplugging monitors, "Dad won't go anywhere without this equipment, so can you take it to the car? Carefully?" She asked, handing him some of the equipment. "If you break it, dad will leave you here."

"I will guard it with my life." Nod replied cheerfully, obviously still thinking about his conversation with Mub, "You have soft hair." He commented over his shoulder as he walked out of the room, computer in hand. A faint blush crept onto her cheek, but she didn't say anything as she continued unplugging the network of cords that made up her dads work station.

Eventually they finished getting everything packed, MK choosing to ride in the back next to Nod to help keep him calm, not that she told him that. Despite his initial excitement it had taken her a couple of minutes to convince him to actually sit down and put on a seatbelt, "Doesn't it make you feel… I don't know, trapped?" He asked her, pushing the hair back from his face before gingerly poking at the roof of the car with a finger.

"I've been riding in them all my life, Nod. They're fine, usually. Except when they crash. Ever crashed a bird?" She asked, hoping to take his mind off of things as they started moving. "Yeah, once. Took her two months to regrow all her feathers." He said ruefully, thinking about the memory. "I was limping for a week, and Ronin made me clean the entire barracks alone, twice, as punishment."

She smirked a bit at that thought, imagining how angry the older man would have been, "And what did you do to crash it?" She pressed, knowing that the longer she had him distracted, the faster he'd calm down about them being in a large moving box.

"Oh, well…" He actually looked sheepish now, blushing just slightly, "I may or may not have been so busy making faces at some Boggans that I forgot I was supposed to be flying my bird. Crashed right into one of their birds, making the Boggan misfire an arrow… Right at Finn. You remember him? Ronin's sidekick and bearer of a rather cool beard? Well, that guy has some amazing reflexes, let me tell you. He jerked his head back and instead of digging into his throat the arrow literally just shaved off some of his beard. To this day, we are still confused as to how that happened. He had to shave it off and start all over again." By this point MK was shaking with silent laughter at the mental imagery, but she managed to ask, "And what about you?"

"Oh, well, I stabbed the Boggan on the way down, the crow hit first, and thankfully my bird landed on top of it otherwise neither of us would have survived. As it was, we were banged up, but yeah, everyone was pretty angry… And Finn wouldn't talk to me till his beard grew back." He grinned at her cheerfully, before looking out the window at the passing scenery, "This is so different from bird riding. Can't see the little details as well, maybe, but it's nice seeing the bigger picture."

"It is pretty nice, but sometimes the little details are nice too." She sat back in her seat and pulled out a little notebook, "We need to think of some things that you have to try while you're norma- sorry, stomper sized. Any special requests, either of you?" She directed part of her questioning to her dad, in case he somehow had any fun ideas.

"How about a movie? I… It's been so long since I've been to the theater that I've not actually seen anything in 3D. I bet Nod would love that too." Her dad suggested shyly from behind the wheel, "Oh! And an air and space museum!"

"Absolutely to the movie, dad." She laughed, still enthralled by the idea that they were really starting to get along these days, "I'll get back to you on the museum. Oh, could we go to the aquarium?" She asked excitedly, nearly bouncing in her seat like a kid, "I mean, Nod's probably never seen any kind of sea creatures, right?" She turned to him hopefully, "Besides, dolphins are so cute!"

"Dolphins are terrifying," Bomba interjected, making a face, "Do you know what they-"

"Dad! They are cute, end of story!" She argued back, albeit laughingly, not wanting to go into the dark side of dolphins in front of her friend, "Oh, and penguins! Even you can't say they are terrifying."

"Have you ever seen their tongues up close?" He countered warmly, laughing now himself, "If you want to go to the aquarium, we will, honey."

Nod smiled at their exchange, not really knowing what they were talking about, but enjoying MK bantering with her dad. It reminded him of how he had been with his dad, despite the fact that Bomba and his father had been completely different in personality. He caught her eye and mimed writing, as if he was taking notes, "Stay… Away… From penguins. Check. What are penguins? And honestly, you and I have different ideas of scary animals, or do I need to remind you of the mouse incident?"

"They are these adorable birds that live in the water." She started to explain, before he interrupted her. "Oh, you mean ducks." "No, I don't. Ducks live on the water, not in it." She started drawing one on the page of her notebook to show him, "See? Penguin. Not a duck."

They were now getting close to the city, so after another minute of arguing about birds, she stopped to point it out. "Are you ready?"

He glance at the giant buildings in the distance, noticing with a shock that the forest he'd grown up in was so far away he couldn't see it anymore. "I think so." He laughed a little nervously, "How scary can it be?"


	3. Larger than Life

**So sorry that this chapter is so late! I've been pretty distracted lately. Thanks to all my new followers, it's absolutely an honor that you guys are enjoying this! - NottheMilk**

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"So, this is it, then? The city?" Nod started bouncing slightly in his seat in excitement, "It doesn't look as crazy as I expected it to be."

"That's because we are still on the outskirts. This is New York." Bomba said, waving a hand at the city, smiling at Nod's excitement. "And it's a lot crazier than you'd think. I was quite glad to get away from it when I first moved into the country."

"Ah, yes. New York. How new is it, anyways?" Nod asked, scratching his head in confusion, "Like, is it newer than your house? Because your house is pretty old, although not as old as Ronin. He's really old, like old as dirt."

"That house is over a hundred years old." MK replied incredulously, crossing her arms as she stared at Nod. "Yeah, he's older than that."

"Really?" Bomba interjected excitedly, taking his hands off the wheel to clap them, "I figured you guys would have shorter lifespans, being so tiny. So how old do Jinn usually live?" He reached to the side, scrambling around, trying to grab a notebook to write it down.

"Dad! Hands on the wheel! You can write it down later!" His daughter screeched in fright as the car swerved slightly, making Nod yelp too, his hands going up over his head defensively at the sudden movement. "Sorry, MK." He gripped the wheel again, looking sheepish as he gave the road his attention again, "But really, how long do you guys live?"

"A-about two hundred and fifty, sometimes even three hundred years old or so." Nod said, his hand pressed against his heart in an attempt to calm it's mad racing. "Why? What about you guys, how long do you guys live?" He asked, subtly signaling MK, asking her through hand gestures if that was how her dad always drove. She shrugged in response to that, but answered his other question aloud, "Ninety years or so on average. Sometimes over a hundred, but not often." She raised an eyebrow at him, deciding she didn't want to ask how old he was, in case it made things weird.

He looked at her fondly and smiled slightly, "Dang. I guess we'll just have to shrink you someday, so you can live a long time like us. Otherwise I might sneeze and bam, you're an old lady. All wrinkly and flabby, and you'd be even slower. I don't want to see that." He teased cheerfully, rather glad that her dad seemed rather oblivious to their flirting; either that or he was all right with his daughter dating a Jinn because it let them study them better. Either way, he was grateful for it.

She snorted as his comment, rolling her eyes at him, even though the idea wasn't really that bad to her. Maybe someday she might want to take him up on it, "Yes, I'll run away and live with Leafmen, and end up eaten by a mouse or a snake, or shot by a stray Boggan."

"You know you love us." He winked at her, wondering momentarily how the other Leafmen would feel about his extended leave, before shrugging it off. "I know some of the others miss you, too. Even Ronin. He'd just never admit it."

Eventually they drove into a parking garage, making Nod's eyes grow wider than the massive city buildings had, as now he felt like he was going into the belly of a beast, imagining the weight of everything above them. He resisted the urge to duck down, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Wow, this is… Really different from the forest."

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In the small, flower filled clearing that the young queen tended to stay in, the same spot that Tara had so often haunted before her, Ronin had found himself called before her. He frowned slightly, chin stiffening as he looked up from his kneeling to watch her. Normally he approached her to talk to her, or she'd come running up to him giggling like the child she was underneath her attempt at a queenly demeanor, hiding from Nod or any of the other guards that she might have played some small prank on, or that she'd convinced to play with her in general.

"Queen Hana-" He started, feeling mildly confused, before she held her hand up to stop him, an odd smile on her face. She let out a little laugh, "I've got a mission for you, General Ronin." She bounced slightly in place, obviously enjoying this. "You know Nod has gone off with the stomper family, right?"

He nodded, not liking where this was going. "Yes..?"

"Well, how do you think he's going to handle being like that? I didn't think about it till after, but… He's kind of excitable, isn't he?" She tapped her finger against her chin, her smile only growing, "He's going to need back up. So, you're going on vacation too! Finn is more than capable of running things when you're gone."

"What? Queen Hanako, you can't jus-" He tried to protest, not approving of this plan at all, "Can too!" She clapped her hands, "Have fun, and enjoy your time off! And you can't just drag him back, either. Bye, Ronin." She dashed forward to place a quick kiss on his cheek, then stepped back again to use her magic on him, transporting him to the house and making him large at the same time.

With a groan, he pushed himself off the ground, annoyed with how heavy his body was. "That little sneak… She's becoming more like Tara than she'll ever know." He muttered to himself, a slight smile slipping across his face. Straightening, he walked to the house and searched for the key, having watched the stompers long enough to know their habits. Opening the house, he started searching around for any clue of where Nod went with MK and her family. An hour later, he stepped out of the house, a piece of paper and a map in hand as he set off walking down the road. "Why didn't I make her make my bird big, too?" He grumbled as he walked, ignoring strange glances from stompers in cars driving by.


End file.
